The National Council on Indian Opportunity will hold its first meeting Tuesday afternoon in Washington.
Vice President Hubert HQ Humphrey, Chairman of the Council established by executive order of President Johnson on March 6, announced today plans for the meeting. Establishment of the Council was announced in the President's unprecedented message to the Congress regarding Indian Americans. The Council was to have held its first meeting on June 5 in Albuquerque but the plans were cancelled due to the assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy.
The Council will assemble in the Treaty Room of the Executive Office Building at 2 p.m. July 16. The Council consists of five Indian leaders and one Alaska Native appointed by President Johnson, six members of the cabinet, and the Director of the Office of Economic Opportunity.
The Indian and Alaska members are: Wendell Chino, President of the National Congress of American Indians and Chairman of the Mescalero Apache Tribal Council, Mescalero, N.M; Cato Valandra, Treasurer of the National Congress of American Indians and President of the Rosebud Sioux Tribal Council, Rosebud, S.D.; Roger Jourdain, Chairman of the State Indian Affairs Commission for the State of Minnesota and Chairman of the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians, Red Lake, Minn.; Raymond Nakai, Chairman of the Navajo Tribal Council, Window Rock, Arizona; Mrs. LaDonna Harris, an Oklahoma Comanche, first president of Oklahomans for Indian Opportunity and director of the Indian Peace Corps training program and William Hensley, an Eskimo member of the Alaska Legislature, Kotzebue, Alaska.
The cabinet members serving on the council are Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall, Secretary of Agriculture Orville Freeman, Secretary of Commerce Cyrus RQ Smith, Secretary of Labor W. Willard Wirtz, Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare Wilbur R. Cohen, and Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Robert CQ Weaver and Acting Director of the Office of Economic Opportunity Bertrand M. Harding.
